Science Books-My Feedback on Two New Options

Hey everyone! What time is it? Science time!

I am excited to tell you about two books that might come in handy if you are teaching science to elementary school students. I was lucky enough to get a look at them thanks to Educents and Dover Publications and I have some details about each and my thoughts.

First: The BOOST Books My First Human Body Coloring Book

This is the cover of the BOOST edition, which has 36 pages and is $4.99. You can download a teacher's guide for free which is 5 pages long.

This version is $3.99, and there is an ebook available, for less. There is no teacher guide or lesson plans with this version. The one I looked at was the BOOST version one above.

As you can see, the front cover has a picture of a child eating a piece of pizza and you can see some parts of the body that are used to eat, like teeth, tongue, salivary glands, esophagus, and other body parts like lungs and more. The BOOST edition is aligned to the common core. On the bottom of every page it tells you what standards (mostly grades 1 and 2) that page is aligned to. The body parts featured in detail are cells, bones, muscles, and organs , just to name a few. Each page features facts about the body part, details about how it works, labeled diagrams, and the students can color the pages too. I teach second grade and think the explanations are reasonable for this age level and a lot of second graders could read the text on their own. I think first graders could understand most of it, but would more likely need help reading the text. For example, on the page about lungs, it describes breathing power and states: "You need muscle power to breathe in and out. Each time you breathe in, you pull air into your nose and mouth, down your windpipe, and into your lungs". Also on the same page: "Your diaphragm is a dome shaped breathing muscle".

Included in this book are pages about many parts of the body and body functions such as the process of digestion, the brain and nerves, breathing, the heart and the 5 senses. I like that this book offers a detailed explanation of the 5 senses and tells how they work instead of many science books which seem to just state what the 5 senses are. My second graders already know what the 5 senses are- they would be able to learn something new about them from this book.

Honestly, the teacher's guide was a little disappointing. It was 5 pages long, but 1 page was the cover, and 2 pages were the alignment to common core standards, which is important, but that left only 2 pages of an actual teacher's guide. The 2 pages of activity suggestions include activities related to: main idea, making suggestions, and writing (I do like that they broke down writing into 3 types: informative, narrative, and opinion). There were a few neat writing ideas including a fun idea to write about what a story about what a day without bones would be like. Vocabulary activities were also mentioned but there was not much there. For example, there was 1 suggestion on teaching word structure using the word soupy. This could be an area to improve in the future.

Here is what a couple of the pages look like when printed out. The BOOST Books: My First Human Body Book could be really great and a classroom teacher or homeschooler could benefit from it, even without looking at the teacher's guide. I have a friend who has a 6 year old daughter who would love this book. Even though my school does not teach the human body in second grade, if you do, it might be worth a look.

If you're getting a science text to use with your class you have to know what it includes. In the table of contents, I can see it covers a lot of ground:

Water Cycle
Solid Water
Heavy and Thick
Disappearing into Water
Water Supply
Curved Water
Creeping Water
Float and Sink
Under Pressure
Water Force
Water Pressure
Water Propulsion
History of Water
Glossary
Index

This style of this text is reminiscent of the style of encyclopedia like books for children such as the DK series.
Each page has an explanation of a water-related phenomena and an experiment. Many of the experiments use mostly easy to find materials such as soda bottles, clay, and straws. A few experiments require items that a classroom teacher may or may not have like a beaker, but you could replace with something else. A few include supplies I would not know where to get, like muslin, but I bet if I asked a few other teachers at my school someone could tell me a store, place, or person who would have some.Some activities would be easier to do at home than school. For example, not every classroom teacher has access to a freezer at school.

Overall, you can could do most of these in a classroom with a little advanced planning, rounding up supplies, and prep work.

The text includes activities and experiments such a color a flower. If you want an idea of what the experiment is like, Mom to 2 Posh Lil' Divas has a similar experiment on her blog in her 10 Flower Experiment post here.

Another fun experiment involves making a clay boat.

Here is a peek at what one of the activity pages looks like printed out. You can print it in color also but I am running low on color ink.

My take on this is that is would be pretty handy to have this text if you are teaching water (and related topics like the properties of matter). It has a lot of great activities. You'd need to read through and see what is relevant to what your goals are and just prep materials. My students love any activities that get them experimenting so they would have a blast.

If you like this type of text, Tabletop Scientist also has others in the series such as:

These books are from Dover Publications. They were founded in 1941 and they aim to offer "remarkable products at amazing prices". Dover Publications has everyday free shipping on orders of $50+. The 2 books I got were downloadable so no need to worry about shipping there. There are some sections on the website that would be useful to teachers and parents such as the Coloring and Crafts section,Free Samples, and a Teacher Resource Page. Click here for the Teacher Resource Page. Dover Publications also has a 30 day full refund or exchange policy. Good to know! This may not apply to downloadable items; however, so check their policies on those before you buy.

Here are a couple of other science books and resources you may want to look into:

So what are your favorite texts or resources to teach science? Beyond what your school gives you, that is? Anything you can share? Please comment below.

Disclaimer: This blog may accept forms of review items. sponsors, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. None of these will ever affect the posts, topics, or content of the blog. The owner of the blog may be compensated to provide a review for a product; however she will always give her honest opinion and feedback on the products. Also see disclosure tab on blog home page for details.